Himmelskönig, sei willkommen (King of Heaven,
welcome), BWV 182, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Palm
Sunday, and first performed it on 25 March 1714, which
was also the feast of the Annunciation that year.
In Weimar, Bach was the court organist of Johann Ernst
von Sachsen-Weimar. On 2 March 1714, he was promoted to
Konzertmeister, an honour which included a monthly
performance of a church cantata in the Schloßkirche.
According to Bach schola...(+)
Himmelskönig, sei willkommen (King of Heaven,
welcome), BWV 182, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Palm
Sunday, and first performed it on 25 March 1714, which
was also the feast of the Annunciation that year.
In Weimar, Bach was the court organist of Johann Ernst
von Sachsen-Weimar. On 2 March 1714, he was promoted to
Konzertmeister, an honour which included a monthly
performance of a church cantata in the Schloßkirche.
According to Bach scholar Alfred Dürr, this cantata is
Bach's first cantata for the court of Weimar, in a
series which was meant to cover all Sundays within four
years. It preceded Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV
12. Bach first performed it in the Schlosskirche on
Palm Sunday, 25 March 1714. Other than in Leipzig,
where tempus clausum was observed during Lent and no
cantatas were permitted, Bach could perform in Weimar a
cantata especially meant for the entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem. The prescribed readings for the day were
from the Epistle to the Philippians, "everyone be in
the spirit of Christ" (Philippians 2:5--11), or from
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "of the Last
Supper" (1 Corinthians 11:23--32), and from the Gospel
of Matthew, the entry into Jerusalem (Philippians
2:5--11).
The poetry was written by the court poet Salomon
Franck, although the work is not found in his printed
editions. Bach's biographer Philipp Spitta concluded
this from stylistic comparison and observing a lack of
recitatives between arias. The poetry derives from the
entry into Jerusalem a similar entry into the heart of
the believer, who should prepare himself and will be
given heavenly joy in return. The language intensifies
the mystical aspects: "Himmelskönig" (King of Heaven),
"Du hast uns das Herz genommen" (You have taken our
hearts from us), "Leget euch dem Heiland unter" (Lay
yourselves beneath the Savior). The chorale in movement
7 is the final stanza 33 of Paul Stockmann's hymn for
Passiontide "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod" (1633).
A da capo sign after the last aria in some parts
suggests that originally the cantata was meant to be
concluded by a repeat of the opening chorus.
As Bach could not perform the cantata in Leipzig on
Palm Sunday, he used it on the feast of Annunciation on
25 March 1724, which had coincided with Palm Sunday for
the first performance. He performed it in Leipzig two
more times.
The cantata is intimately scored to match the church
building. An instrumental Sonata in the rhythm of a
French Overture depicts the arrival of the King. (In
his cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, for
Advent that same year on the same reading, Bach went
further and set a chorus in the form of such an
overture). The recorder and a solo violin are
accompanied by pizzicato in the divided violas and the
continuo. The first chorus is in da capo form,
beginning with a fugue, which leads to a homophonic
conclusion. The middle section contains two similar
canonic developments.
The following Bible quote is set as the only recitative
of the cantata. It is given to the bass as the vox
Christi (voice of Christ) and expands to an arioso. The
instrumentation of the three arias turns from the crowd
in the Biblical scene to the individual believer, the
first accompanied by violin and divided violas, the
second by a lone recorder, the last only by the
continuo.
The chorale is arranged in the manner of Pachelbel;
every line is first prepared in the lower voices, then
the soprano sings the cantus firmus, while the other
voices interpret the words, for example by fast
movement on "Freude" (joy). The closing chorus is,
according to conductor John Eliot Gardiner, "a
sprightly choral dance that could have stepped straight
out of a comic opera of the period".
Although this cantata was scored for alto, tenor, and
bass soloists, a four-part choir, recorder, two
violins, two violas and basso continuo, I created this
arrangement for Flute & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
